Clare Dhillon, President of the Auxiliary, presents a cheque to Mike Nader, Chief Operating Officer of Richmond. They are joined by (from left); Deb Turner, who oversaw the 2-day Curio Sale, Lorna Krassie and Carole Roebuck, who supervise the Thrift Store.
Thank you to all of you who are here today to show your appreciation of the Richmond Hospital/Healthcare Auxiliary.
With a nod to the fact that some of you, I know have limited time to attend this Christmas tea and despite the fact that I never met a microphone that I didn’t like; I will try to speak with brevity. However I must be respectful of the time Auxilians have given throughout the year as partners in healthcare, and also of the funds Auxilians raise to support this Hospital and healthcare in Richmond.
I will be honoured to present on behalf of the Auxiliary, a promissory note in the amount of $150,000 to Mike Nader in a little while. You may recall that last year our promissory note was for $200,000. Don’t worry, the gift shop, flower arranging operation and lottery booth on this site; the tuck shop at Minoru Residence and Thrift store in Steveston haven’t been slacking off. In fact they have been working harder than ever. I will explain the slight reduction due to some exciting news in a moment.
Following much discussion, here is the list of approved items that the Auxiliary would like to see purchased with the $150,000 detailed in the promissory note: Breastfeeding chairs for NICU, Overbed tables for Minoru; Repositioning slings for Minoru; Weighted sittris chairs for inpatient psych, Geri chairs for MH and Addiction; Mattresses, Bed box springs, and Beds for Bridge House; Isoflex pressure relief mattresses for Minoru, acute care and palliative care; Tilt wheelchairs with tables for 4 north and 3 south; Wheeled walkers for rehab; an Ostoscope/Opthmoscope for 6 north; Mitra sleep chairs for 6 North paediatrics and finally, broda chairs for 2 south.
In addition at a cost of around $163,000 annually we continue to fund music therapy in psychiatry,oncology, palliative care, richmond lions manor, Minoru residence and mental health; recreational therapy in richmond lions manor and Minoru residence; the perinatal loss program, and the maintenance and management of the buses at richmond lions manor and Minoru residence.
For the first time this year we decided to commit even more to our investment in the future of healthcare and awarded three, not just two, bursaries to students who are committed to studying in a health care related field.
To top all this off here is the aforementioned exciting news. The Auxiliary have decided on a special one-time purchase to benefit Lions Manor. We are buying them a brand, spanking new bus to replace their old bus. They are as thrilled as we are and it is nice to give them something mobile that will be well used before and after they move into their new home. This bus will cost us over $85,000 and there has been lots of input from Lions Manor as well as the Auxiliary representative council so that we make sure we buy them the best. It’s a good job so many people had a say because the main thing I was really concerned about was the upholstery colour not clashing with our candy apple red auxiliary logo! But seriously, this is a big deal for the Auxiliary and when the bus arrives in mid February (ish) it will be to a big announcement and much fanfare.
I would like to recognize all of the Auxilians here with us today, as well as those who couldn’t join us, for their selfless, hard work.
We are constantly looking for new members, especially board members so if any of you who aren’t Auxilians don’t feel you get to spend as much time here as you’d like or are retiring soon please! Join us!
To round up then, the Auxiliary is committed to donating almost $400,000 and a good chunk of that ( this year over $40,000) is raised at our ever popular annual 2 day Antique/Vintage sale at the Thrift store in Steveston.
Merry Christmas everybody!